


Quarter Past Midnight

by cold_nights_summer_days



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anyways, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Exhaustion, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I promise, Nightmares, Not Canon Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tired Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, author is also a mess, because i can't sleep and want to feel productive, but you get it now, i was originally going to post this for comfortember, okay im done with the tags now, so im posting a fic in the middle of the night, yeehaw guys gals and nonbinary pals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27145453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cold_nights_summer_days/pseuds/cold_nights_summer_days
Summary: Just your average Peter-Parker-Can't-Sleep fic! A little bit of frustration and a lot of fluff. (yes the title is from the bastille song, and I'm going to be real honest, I didn't even listen to that song when I wrote this I was just scrolling through my playlist for a title!)----“Are you fucking kidding me,” Peter muttered to himself, waking up from his third nightmare of the evening. He wanted to scream, cry, and jump out the window all at the same time. He just wanted a break. He just wanted torest,for even just a moment.That’s all I want, universe. I just want one break from everything.
Relationships: (mentioned) - Relationship, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 60





	Quarter Past Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyyyyy I'm sure you already know what this is about if you read all of my (annoying!) tags. TL:DR, I'm awake and it's 01:30 and I'd really like to be asleep right now but since I'm not I'm posting this to feel productive!
> 
> Hope you enjoy my little projection! Also, I love y'all and it's honestly such a privelge to write for such an amazing fandom. <3

Peter couldn’t escape it. His waking life was a nightmare – between the new responsibility, old trauma, and anxiety – and his sleeping life was too. It didn’t matter if he was awake or asleep; he still felt shitty.

“Are you fucking kidding me,” Peter muttered to himself, waking up from his third nightmare of the evening. He wanted to scream, cry, and jump out the window all at the same time. He just wanted a break. He just wanted to _rest,_ for even just a moment. _That’s all I want, universe. I just want one break from everything._

He sighed and closed his eyes to try and salvage a little more sleep for the night. It didn’t end up working, and Peter did what he’d tried to avoid doing when he woke up, looking at his phone. He knew that if he checked Instagram, Snapchat, or Tumblr, he’d get distracted and never go back to bed.

(Which at this point might have been preferrable, to be honest.)

Peter unplugged his phone and quickly typed in the password. He squinted as the bright light assaulted his eyes, trying to turn down the brightness without looking. He eventually turned the screen to its dimmest setting and stared at the home screen. Which app did he want to waste all of his time on tonight?

Tumblr was the winner this time. He scrolled endlessly through the Avengers tag, occasionally reblogging things or leaving comments. A few times he tried to scroll quickly past the posts marked as fanfiction; it was weird to think about now that he’d met most of them in person.

Around four, Peter got a text message from none other than Tony Stark. They were closer now (possibly because Mr. Stark was guilty about Peter almost dying), but it was still odd to receive a message from him. Especially in the middle of the night.

_Mr. Stark: Don’t forget you’re coming here this weekend. Happy will pick you up after school._ i

Peter opened the message to respond, but he hesitated before typing. Mr. Stark probably didn’t expect a reply this early. He might have just sent it now so that he didn’t forget. Maybe Mr. Stark didn’t expect, or want, a reply at all. (Peter was good at this. The overthinking, I mean. Not so much the social interaction thing.)

Before he could think about it any longer, Peter typed back.

_Peter: Okay. For the record, I’m not sure I could forget something as cool as going to the avengers’ compound._

The next response came not as a text message, but a phone call. Peter watched the phone ring for a moment before answering. How could be sure that he wasn’t really asleep, and this wasn’t just another one of his dreams that would start out normal and then turn into a horror movie? He answered after only a few more moments of questioning why this was happening.

_“Why are you awake?”_ Tony greeted. Peter laughed nervously.

“Because I can’t sleep,” He answered. The line was quiet for a moment, but Peter thought he could hear a TV playing faintly in the background.

_“You’re not like, out, right now, right? You didn’t hack the suit again? I told you not to do that anymore—”_

“No, Mr. Stark, I’m not out. I’m in bed. I’m just not sleeping.”

_“Don’t you have a Spanish test tomorrow?”_

“Yeah – wait. How do you know about the Spanish test?”

_“May told me,”_ Mr. Stark replied matter-of-factly. Peter wondered when the two of them, busy as they were, found the time to talk about Peter’s upcoming Spanish test. _“But seriously. You should get some sleep.”_

“I’ve tried,” Peter said, voice coming out more hostile than he’d intended it too. _Do you think I really want to be up right now?_ “I’ve been to sleep, what, three times now? I keep waking up so I just gave up on it.”

“ _Nightmares?”_

Peter didn’t quite want to admit to his childhood-hero-turned-superhero-mentor that he was having nightmares. Mr. Stark seemed to pick up on it.

_“It’s okay to say yes. I get them too, you know. Most of the team does.”_

“Really?”

_“Of course. We get more trauma in a day than some people get in their whole life. Besides, as much as it sucks, nightmares sort of come with the superhero territory. To be honest, I might be more worried if you didn’t get them.”_

“So . . . what do you do to deal with them. Because to be honest, it’s been weeks since I’ve actually slept and I’m so tired of feeling, well, tired. Exhausted might be more the right word, though.”

_“Depends. I went to therapy for a while. Sometimes I take melatonin. Other times, and I definitely don’t suggest this, I stay up all night watching The Office. Steve used to draw them, and I think Natasha liked to make hot chocolate. Everyone has their thing.”_

“You watch The Office?” Peter asked, laughing lightly. It was sort of hard to picture.

_“Yes, I do, because it’s funny. I will not be taking any criticism at this point in time.”_

“I’m not criticizing! I actually watch it, too.”

_“And why have we never discussed our mutual love of The Office?”_

“When would it have come up? We don’t normally talk about this sort of thing,” Peter answered. Mr. Stark was quiet for a moment.

_“I guess we don’t,”_ He said. The light tone in his voice was gone, replaced by something Peter couldn’t quite put his finger on. Part of him wanted to say regret, but the overthinking part of him wasn’t sure. (That wasn’t saying much; that part of him rarely agreed with any of his decisions.)

_“Nothing says we can’t start, though. Right?”_

“I guess not,” Peter agreed.

“  
I might fail it even if I wasn’t exhausted, but you’re right. I should try to sleep some.” _Even though it won’t work._

_“Or I could tell May that you have some sort of internship ‘retreat’ tomorrow and have Happy pick you up early from school,”_ Mr. Stark suggested. Peter couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.

“Would she even say yes to that?”

_“Probably not, which is why I suggest we just tell her you need a mental health day tomorrow. That way you can get some actual break from stressing out about everything, because I’m sure that definitely doesn’t help your nightmares.”_

“What about the test?”

_“You can take it Monday. I could help you study more this weekend if you want.”_

“You’d do that for me?”

_“Yeah. Well, there’s one issue. I don’t really know Spanish, I know Italian. But I’m sure it translates.”_

“I’m fairly sure it doesn’t. I would—I’d like it if you helped me study, though.”

_“It’s settled then. I’ll call May about the ‘skipping school’ thing.”_

“Well now that you’re phrasing it that way, I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” Peter said, suddenly feeling guilty about the whole thing. Mr. Stark assured him that it was fine. Sometimes, people just need a break, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

“Thanks, Mr. Stark,” Peter said just as they were about to hang up.

_“Of course, kid. I’m happy to do it,_ ” Mr. Stark replied. Peter smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading guys! Can't wait to see y'all for the real comfortember! (if you are one of the people who's been waiting for me to continue when I'm lost (I feel so very found) then you'll defintely want to check that out next month ;)
> 
> If you want to read more, check out my [page](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cold_nights_summer_days/works) and my [tumblr!/a>](https://funky--lil--spider.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Also, I've opened my comissions if you'd be interested in that!
> 
> [Support me on Ko-Fi, or commission a fic!](https://ko-fi.com/cold_nights_summer_days)


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